Watkins Improves England Chances with Brace

Villa’s frustrating afternoon was compounded in the final minutes of the match when Douglas Luiz was issued a yellow card. his 10th of the season means he is now suspended for Villa’s next two matches against Arsenal and AFC Bournemouth.

Watkins Improves England Chances with Brace
Watkins is now outright second in the Premier League scoring charts with 18 goals. In front of the watching England manager Gareth Southgate, Watkins started and scored a double while his international team-mate Ivan Toney sat on the bench for Brentford.

Bees boss Frank explained prior to the game that Toney’s exclusion was due to a “small” muscle injury, and Watkins took advantage of his own pitch time with two headers, including a vital equaliser just when it seemed Villa had thrown everything away as an intense pursuit of a UEFA Champions League spot continues.

Mbeumo “M-presses”
It was an insipid performance from Brentford for the first 59 minutes, though Mbeumo had been doing his best to drag them up the pitch and he was at the centre of most of what the Bees did well.

The Cameroon international volleyed Brentford level with a superb effort on his weaker right foot, and generally caused Emery’s side all sorts of headaches, even prior to the rest of his team-mates matching his levels.

Mbeumo has scored five and been involved in six more away goals in the Premier League this season than any other Brentford player, despite playing in just nine of their matches on the road.

Aston Villa failed to win a Premier League home game in which they led by 2+ goals for the first time since February 2022 (3-3 vs Leeds), having won each of their previous 19 such matches before today.